Apparently Rose was a nice name, which Rose didn’t particularly disagree with but thought it was an awkward comment to make. What was she supposed to say, ‘thanks, my mom picked it out’? Actually, she had no idea which one of her parents had chosen her name, or if they had decided it together. But fortunately she was spared the necessity of replying to the weird comment by Myffi revealing that she was in Lyra. Which of course she was. Saying that all Lyras were weird was probably an overstatement, but Rose was pretty sure that Marissa’s dad at least was bonkers and he had been in Lyra. Plus there was Holland. On the other hand, Danny and Emmett were relatively normal. Stupid, because they were boys, but normal stupid not weird stupid. Usually.

“Um,” Myffi was particularly excited about Pearl Street, which Rose couldn’t really blame her for. The actual location of the Farnon property was pretty rural and while there was a small town nearby, it was Muggle and Rose had been prohibited from visiting. It hadn’t stopped her once she reached a certain age - and it was where she had gotten her cat - but there hadn’t been much to do around there. Sometimes their father would take them to London, but Rose was pretty sure he didn’t like to spend any more time with her than she did with him, so those trips were rare. “Yes, we can go up to Pearl Street when we like,” Rose said. “A lot of us do stuff regularly on Pearl Street, actually. I work at Kimball’s Quidditch Supply and my roommate takes dance.” From her step-sister’s complaints, Rose knew that at least at Hogwarts, their trips to the village outside were limited to certain weekends. That seemed horrible, but Rose supposed that Hogsmeade was probably pretty limited anyway. “Pearl Street is mixed magical and Muggle so there are shops and things the Muggles can’t see but we can also visit their shops if we like. There’s a great ice-cream place with magical flavors, even.”

While Rose was talking, the new girl had picked up a piece of toast and spread it with marmalade, and Rose took the opportunity to take another bite of her own breakfast. As she took another bite, Myffi asked another series of questions. Rose chewed her granola-and-fruit mix and swallowed, taking a sip of the orange juice she had managed to pour during Myffi’s original introduction.

“My roommate is fantastic,” Rose said enthusiastically, grinning broadly. “We’re best friends. She’s Quidditch team captain for our House - I’m in Aquila,” Rose answered Myffi’s other question quickly. “And I’m our Seeker. And we’re in a couple of the same classes. So we spend a lot of time together.” Rose leaned in and lowered her voice. “Plus we host the best parties in the school.” Heather Bartel would dispute that claim, but everyone knew that Heather’s parties were kind of sub-par. Marissa had great connections, between Professor McKindy being willing to charm pretty much anything they asked for, and Marissa’s Aunt Jessie being willing to get them pretty much anything they wanted from the outside. She did draw the line at drugs, but Rose was fine with that. She didn’t even like drinking all that much.

“I’m in sixth year though,” Rose said, then paused. Myffi was a fifth year Lyra? Oh Emmett was going to love that. “Um, I’m actually not sure if you have a roommate. There’s not another girl in your House and year, but they might put you with someone older or younger.” Rose knew there was a fourth year Lyra girl, although she didn’t remember her name. And then there was Holland. From last year’s debacle with Lucien, practically everyone in the school knew that Holland lived on the girls’ side of the dorm but could get up the stairs to the boys’ side. “Although,” Rose said carefully, stirring her yogurt absent-mindedly, “your roommate might not be a girl, exactly. Not a boy, they wouldn’t do that,” she added quickly. “But maybe not a girl.”

“Oh how lovely, I've been on holiday to Devon,” Myfanwy trilled. “My Mam had an old friend who lives near Bere Ferres so we stayed in a campsite in Devon nearby.” It was adorable that this girl and... more

Everything about Pearl Street sounded amazing. Myfanwy had literally never been so excited about anything in her whole entire life, except maybe when she found out she was a witch, and then maybe... more

“I am relatively certain Holland is not a pumpkin,” Rose said dryly in response to Myffi’s confusion, spending a moment feeling superior in her understanding of how things worked. Admittedly, Rose... more

Myfanwy assumed they were now talking about a student named Holland (she could be wrong, she wasn't certain she was following this conversation all that well). Rose said, “They just aren’t a boy or a ... more

Out of nowhere, fake-weirdo hippie girl started asking questions about - Holland’s parts ? Rose was, unusually, stunned into silence. She had known Holland for five years and hadn’t once thought... more

Rose said classes were ‘okay’ but she didn't sound very sure about that. Maybe she really liked school and was trying not to sound like a swot, or maybe she was really really bad at classes and she... more

New girl wasn’t interested in being an Animagus, which took her down a few notches in Rose’s eyes. She also seemed to think being an Animagus wasn’t useful, which Rose took to mean that she clearly... more